Need recommended jobs for savage raids

Hey guys, I'm trying to get more into savage raiding, and need some recommendations. I'm using SAM and MNK right now, and I'm enjoying them but I'm wondering if I would be better off using something with a little more utility. MNK seems to have good utility, but Brotherhood doesn't do much good if I get a party with all casters. My dps jobs at 70 currently are RDM, SMN, SAM, and MNK, and all others are at least 60, so they won't be hard to level up.

What's a really good all around job to play with good utility and good damage output? I'm new to raiding so I want to be as efficient as possible.

Thanks all!

Dragoon is probably the best pick for you based off of all of what you're looking for

Dragoon/nin will always land you a spot in melee dps. Monk will be fine if you're performing at optimal level though.

If you're comfortable with smn, the dps and raise they bring makes prog very easy.

I've been kinda torn between playing a melee so I can lb in case everyone else is a caster, or playing a caster with a raise ability and just risk not having a melee lb.

I'm working on leveling my BRD at the moment, but maybe I'll switch gears and look at DRG/NIN.

your comp with generally have 2 melee 2 ranged so you shouldn't worry too much

meta DPS comp is nin, drg, brd, mch. I'd recommend NIN and DRG in particular as they're good even without a full meta party build; they stand on their own pretty well. I wouldn't recommend MCH unless you're in a static running the meta comp.

That said, there are other factors. BRD DPS, for example, suffers without having nin/drg/mch there, but still brings utility like mp sustain and extra damage for casters. RDM is a great choice for progression because of its ability to toss out raises and manashifts and, frankly, a good RDM can still top DPS charts in pug groups where many people don't play their jobs optimally. If you're really not digging RDM, SMN still brings some progression utility to the table.

MNK/SAM/BLM... all can be decent, play them optimally and they'll put out big numbers and that can be good enough for many raid groups. But they won't be as sought after.

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just to make the hint explicit, however: #1 factor is optimal play for a job. Give me a nonmeta person that knows what they're doing over a meta player that doesn't, any day. But people will go looking for those meta and utility jobs.

Try not to worry too much about Rezzing as a caster, for progress yes it can be good but once you (and maybe a static) have everything down, there should be minimal deaths that the healers can easily pick up. So you want a job that you like and you know you can bring good dps with.

Awesome info, thanks guys!

Mnk is fine, you'll doubtfuly ever get more than 1-2 casters in savage.., sure it can happen in farm PFs.., but not much in prog PFs, where the comp seems to be more important..

if u can, just master both mnk and sam (sam is fun to play), prog with mnk and do sam clears too

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and truthfully "meta" = "I want you to buff me for fflogs" (only for 0.01% world first clear runs does meta mean what it should, for the remaing 99.99% its an excuse to force classes in the comp, that buff you)

atleast mnk can buff others, so unless the PF leader is magic caster you'll get a spot in the PF almost always (healers might not want mnk as much as physical classes, but healers still tend to like mnk a bit, thanx to mantra, the healing buff for prog)

Monk, Drg or Ninja would all be great. 2 Mellee for instance works really well also but i am the only mellee in our group. Had a drg at the beginning of raiding and that helped with my damage also (as a Ninja)

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Originally Posted by Relhon

I've been kinda torn between playing a melee so I can lb in case everyone else is a caster, or playing a caster with a raise ability and just risk not having a melee lb.

I'm working on leveling my BRD at the moment, but maybe I'll switch gears and look at DRG/NIN.

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For melee, if you want a job that offers good utility and good personal damage, I would recommend DRG. NIN’s have astounding utility, but their personal damage is the lowest of the melee (and one of the lowest of all DPS at higher percentiles). However, statics are almost always going to take a NIN because of Trick Attack, and Smokescreen and Shadewalker (the former of which reduces the enmity of a target, and the latter gives a portion of the NIN’s enmity to a target—usually the main tank).

MNK is still a viable job, but most groups will already have a NIN (usually), and if they take a MNK for their second melee, the physical ranged will be losing personal damage, and the raid would be losing the free rDPS contributed by piercing resistance down. Brotherhood lines up well with WAR’s Inner Release, and offers a decent buff for all-physical comps, but MNK/DRG and NIN/MNK both give up utility options, so MNK hasn’t breached the meta save for triple melee comps (NIN/DRG/MNK + physical ranged; usually BRD). It can be useful to your healers, espeically in prog, though, because Mantra buffs healing.

For caster, your best bet would be SMN. It’s the only caster that has made a decent job of working itself into the current NIN/DRG/BRD/MCH meta, usually benching MCH because BRD brings everything MCH does save for Dismantle/Hypercharge, and beats it in utility with regards to raid contribution (passive crit buff + Foe Requiem + Battle Voice). BLM is also powerful, but it requires intimate knowledge of each fight, so that you can know when to move, when you can eat an attack, and where you can stand to avoid most AOEs but still be in range for healing if needed. BLM’s mobility has gotten immensely better since Patch 4.2, but groups that take a caster tend to prefer SMN.

If you are looking at physical ranged, BRD would be the best bet. For the reasons I listed above. It has low personal DPS, but it is the king of utility—offering not only MP/TP regen, but Troubador (which can reduce magical or physical damage, or increase HP depending on which song you use it in) and Nature’s Minne (which is a free Convalesence on a target for 15 seconds every 45 seconds—perfect for spreading Adlos and for times of heavy tank damage where they need extra healing). Their personal DPS isn’t something to scoff at, and they do have a really good burst if your stars align, but know that a lot of your damage is dependent on three things: having a DRG (you automatically lose 5% from losing Disembowel’s piercing resistance down; BRDs can still pull high numbers without the rest of the meta, but a DRG is a necessity for them), how many procs you get during a fight, and optimizing your DoTs. BRD is heavily RNG-based, so if you dislike RNG, I would not recommend it (even though it is my main and I love it).

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Originally Posted by Shiroe

and truthfully "meta" = "I want you to buff me for fflogs" (only for 0.01% world first clear runs does meta mean what it should, for the remaing 99.99% its an excuse to force classes in the comp, that buff you)

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I want to comment on this: you don’t have to be doing world prog to want the meta comp or to want optimization. I’m not a world-first raider, but I like optimization and pushing the limits of my job, and that’s what the meta is all about. Sure, you want to get the pretty logs on FFLogs, but that’s not something exclusive to just world-first groups. It’s only knowing how to correctly work the meta and how to correctly optimize to make it worthwhile.

Players that want the meta but fail to understand it will not benefit from it; however, they sadly do not understand that either. Meta isn’t a “press your buttons and automatically get orange” thing—it’s all about planning buffs and centering them around periods of party-wide burst to get the most out of said buffs. And pushing for fast kills as well.

Since everyone seems to have ignored the part of your post where you told us all what jobs are at your disposal right now, I would say your best options are either SMN or MNK. SMN has a surprising amount of utility skills with battle raise, devotion, contagion, and radiant shield and is top DPS in most of the high level content on top of that. However, the job takes a high level of mastery to play well, but is a good addition to raid groups both for farming and for prog.

MNK is a little simpler to play and also has solid numbers. Brotherhood, as you mentioned, is a pretty decent utility skill as you likely will have another melee, two tanks, and one of not two ranged physical classes to work with. Also Mantra has become much more useful than it was in the past now that it's gotten a greatly reduced cooldown. It definitely is valuable support for healers as if timed right it can provide larger shields, or enable less mana intensive healing, letting them DPS more. Also if you're looking to be the one to do the limit break, though, monk isn't really your job. Your ability to actually execute the LB and not lose greased lightning in the process is pretty limited. In my group, I make the dragoon do the limit breaks.

You can literally beat savage raids with any comp.

Im not saying that meta won't make it easier. But its not a requirement to beat the fights if you're playing them well.

Only time where meta comes close to being a thing is at the start of a new tier, ultimate fights or speed kills.

People obsess too much over meta in this game generally.